Friday, December 12, 2014

holiday stuff and a totally unrelated selfie

I
should be in the kitchen trying to whip something up for the garden
club christmas party pot luck lunch buffet today. I should be
jumping in the car and running down to the square to find a little
gift for the chinese gift exchange they will have. But I'm not.
This thing always sneaks up on me because I just don't do christmas.
Don't think about it, don't plan for it. I didn't even go last year
or the year before. The only reason I'm going today is because my
sister is going. Besides, I've been busy this week working on a
master bath window, nothing complex, just reproducing the tile
pattern in a border.

That
was yesterday morning and I did decide, after all, to run down to the
square and check out a couple of the shops. First shop, strike one.
Second idea was a nice bar of handmade soap with garden fragrances
but the only ones they had at the second shop I went to were intended
mostly for men and really smelled terrible so strike 2. Third shop
though is a great antique/junk shop and she has chandelier crystals
so I got one that had three small octagonal crystals and a large
pendant shaped one all hooked together. I thought it would be nice
hanging in a window or out on a patio.

So
the buffet had some interesting things as these things usually do.
My favorite was a casserole of sausage, potatoes, and sauerkraut and
some kind of sauce. Doesn't sound that good but it was. And there
was a chicken and dumpling casserole that was good. Lots of other
predictable stuff...stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, salads, some corn
thing I didn't try. I didn't get in line soon enough and so missed
the deviled eggs though I did get some of a lot of different things.
My sister and I were sitting next to each other to eat and I picked
up something and took a bite and put it back down and said, 'well,
that was terrible'. Later I asked her which of the foods she had
brought. 'The one you didn't like', she says. Of course it would
be that one.

Anyway,
when my number came up for the gift exchange and it was time for me
to choose, I chose a bamboo wind chime that had already been opened
by someone, snatched by someone else, and then snatched by me but I
got to keep it because we put a limit on how many times an opened
gift could be snatched. It was fun, fun to see what items were
passed around and which ones weren't. It seemed like one woman
opened at least half the gifts since whatever she currently had was
usually snatched by someone else. Well, probably not half but at
least a third. At one point she quipped did we all just want her to
go ahead and open all the rest of them?

We
had a good time at the open house last weekend, visiting with friends
we only see once or twice a year now since we moved out of the city.
I don't think we had nearly as many people come by this year as last
but we sold more than last year. We sold four pieces, two of the new
ones and two older ones plus sold one of the new ones via FB before
the weekend ever got here. Now I have to get the waxes ready for the
three limited edition series of small bowls that I promised a new
gallery in Florida for their show coming up in March in which we are
participating. I'll send the framed lizard and bee sculptures as
well. I have to get these done before we start casting the last of
the Botanicas.

And
speaking of the last of the Botanicas, I think I'm going to do one
more but this one will be large, 18” square. It won't be nearly as
thick though because it would be tremendously heavy.

8 comments:

congrats on the sales! i had a bamboo wind chime that i loved (because i don't like the metal ones outside - i hang all my metal ones inside so they only clang when i want them to). the thing weathered after several seasons and fell apart, but that is nature's way. :)

You’ve reminded me, I must eat some Sauerkraut again. Haven’t tasted any for a year or more. But with a sauce? What kind of sauce?

I like the idea of this potluck and gift exchange. It sounds so much nicer than all that serious buying and giving. We don’t do any of that, we might give a book or a token but nothing else. Kids are all grown up.

You always look so serious on your selfies. Could I have a bit of a smile before you close the selfie shop?